http://lesswrong.com/lw/l3/thou_art_godshatter/

Lets say self preservation and procreation are biologically driven. Through the same drives we may come to favor certain convictions or ideologies over others. For example, though we may be morally convicted to be against rape, that conviction just comes from some biological motivation that protects our self preservation and ability to procreate.

With body building you may have just had a biological imperative to eat and a biological imperative to compete which were in conflict. Your neural connections and bodily chemicals made you act in favor of one imperative over the other.

This is very relevant for me at this time. Just a few days ago I was overcome with this feeling of hopelessness in which you described, albeit briefly, upon lamenting about the methodical and unforgiving force that is biology and how I feel much of our societal issues stem from continuous attempts at subverting our natural inclinations.

There are times that I wish my rationale would seize to take hold of me in order to once again live without conscious understanding of the underlying influences and machinations of social dynamics. A part of me feels that it would be preferable to be in comfortable ignorance as I’d likely have more of an optimistic and positive outlook of mankind and the fate of our civilization. However, for the most part, I’ve surrendered myself to the nihilism. I find it more virtuous and intellectually honest to accept things as is as opposed to electing to live in willful ignorance. But it’s not always easy.